Follow along for real-time sights and snippets from the joint meeting of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Vegetable and Flower Conference and the California Seed Association in San Diego.
The 2026 event is already in full swing, drawing nearly 1,000 attendees from across the seed sector. Bookmark this page for daily photo updates from the floor, sessions and side conversations shaping the industry.
L-R Above: Concept to Crop panel yao luo, Gary Rudgers, Dan Jenkins; Indiana Crop Improvement’s Laura Donaldson with Aimee Nielson; Iowa State University’s Tess Howard with Aimee Nielson.
Thursday sessions were well attended and full of so much industry-shaping information about gene editing, policy, regulatory issues and so much more.
L-R: Seed World columnist Jonathan Shaver and Aimee Nielson; ASTA chair Dave Treinen chats with NAPB legend Don Cummings; Aimee Nielson presents Lisa Branco with the Seed World Connector of the Year award at the opening general session.
L-R: Dave Treinen congratulates Andy LaVigne on 20 years with ASTA; Western Growers’ Jeana Cadby and Alicia Rihn address the general session “Leadership Perspectives on the Fresh Market and Horticulture Sector.”
Andy LaVigne welcomes attendees to the 2026 ASTA Vegetable and Flower Conference; Randy Riley speaks in the “Leadership Perspectives on the Fresh Market and Horticulture Sector” session; CSA Executive Director Chris Zanobini moderated the panel; Seed World editorial board member and Corteva Global Head, Seed Business Communications Jane Bachmann and Aimee Nielson chat about Seed World editorial strategy.
L-R above: AidenBrook and Aimee Nielson at the Seed World Media Center, doing what Seed World does best: connecting seed people to seed people; The Seed World Media Center; Lisa Branco (Radicle Seed), Justin Davis (Sakata Seed America) and Aimee Nielson.
L-R above: Registration desk is very busy; the view from the conference windows; ASTA director of marketing and communications, Kaitlin Crawford speaks at the Curiosity, Resilience and Flexibility in the Seed Industry session.
If you’re here, come find the Seed World team and tell us what you’re seeing, hearing and working on.
